Gaines, who suffers from depression, had been looking at how medical marijuana could help mental illnesses. He said more research needs to be conducted in that area, but didn’t see any improvements.

“It’s not ready for prime time for that,” he said. “It’s good for some physical illnesses but the tradeoff between the benefits and side effects just aren’t there when you look at mental illnesses.”

He said he still plans to conduct a national study on the impact of medical marijuana on mental illness.

“But that’s a longer term activity,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said ketamine, administered intravenously, has helped his depression.

Ketamine was approved for use as an anesthetic by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1963 and is still widely used as an anesthetic in third-world countries, Gaines said.

It also is known as a rape drug because the odorless and tasteless drug can be added to beverages, inducing amnesia.

Classified as a Schedule III drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration, ketamine can cause dream-like states and hallucinations, creating a black market for what many call “Special K.”

But administered under the care of a medical professional, Gaines said it can help ease depression.

“At any one time, 28 million people are depressed,” Gaines said. “It is estimated to have a $80 billion annual cost to our economy. It’s a huge problem at a societal level and it’s a huge burden at the individual level.”

His new facility, called Depression Recovery Centers, is at 14362 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. in Scottsdale.

Ketamine doesn’t have FDA approval to be used as an antidepressant, but many doctors use drugs “off label,” which means the drugs are used to treat other problems.

As a result, insurance companies won’t cover ketamine as a treatment for depression, which means patients will be paying about $750 per treatment.

Even so, ketamine is not for everyone, Gaines said. It will only help about one-third of the patients who try it to treat depression. It also can cause slight increases in blood pressure, he said.

“If you asked 100 doctors what they thought about ketamine treatment, 120 of them would say don’t use it yet,” he said. “That’s because they rely on drug companies for their information. Drug companies are clearly motivated in this instance to develop their own drug.”